1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to folding seats for vehicles, particularly for use in the rear passenger compartment of extended cab trucks.
2. Related Art
By definition pick-up trucks are intended for hauling cargo of various sizes. Frequently the cargo to be hauled is too long for the bed of the truck. In this case, for example if hauling a standard sized sheet of plywood, the sheet must be laid down in the bed with the tailgate of the truck fully opened, or the sheet must be rested at the rearward end on top of the closed tailgate, causing the sheet to sag. Neither position of the cargo is preferred. Rather, it is best to be able to lay the entire sheet down, flat upon the bed of the truck and then close the tailgate to prevent losing the load. Thus, in an extended cab truck having a second row of seats it would be ideal to be able to do something to get the second row of passenger seats out of the way of the intended long cargo. Further, if the long cargo is also taller than the height of the truck cab there is also a need for a way to get part of the roof of the truck out of the way so that the entire cargo can be retained in the bed of the truck.
In the past, cargo vehicles having second, third, or other multiple row seating units proved to be very unpopular. The seating units were difficult to manipulate and took away valuable space both inside the passenger compartment and within the vehicle chassis area because extra, unused seats would have to be stored in a deep, recessed well in the chassis. Likewise, the seating units were not comfortable or aesthetically pleasing.
Users of such systems who wanted to maximize storage or cargo space would have to completely remove rear seats which created two associated problems. First, the seats were bulky and heavy and difficult to maneuver in the confined space of vehicle occupancy compartments. Generally, more than one person was needed to remove the known seats. Additionally, seat removal created problems because the removed seat required storage in a garage, a home, or elsewhere, taking up valuable space.
Likewise, seating units that were not removed from the vehicle, but were instead folded and stored within a well in the vehicle chassis reduced ground clearance. Ground clearance reduction in vehicles such as sport utility vehicles greatly limits the area drivers may operate the vehicles. Moreover, new vehicle space standards that will greatly limit storage space are to take effect in the very near future. Because of this, it is desirous to find a better way to manipulate and store vehicle seats in multi-row seating vehicles.
Automotive seat systems for second and third-row seat systems are known in the art. Examples are illustrated in FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C. The known seat systems, however, often require awkward assemblies that use precious vehicle space or create storage problems. Additionally, many folding seats are complicated and expensive to manufacture and assemble, comprising many gears and/or lever arms among other components. Finally, many of the existing systems are not aesthetically pleasing or comfortable. In particular, modifications to the seats to make them have a thinner profile when folded often lead to structural trade-offs which sacrifice comfort.
One such trade-off is in the optimum torso support angle. To improve comfort a seat back is given a slight rearward angle so that the occupant is slightly reclined when seated. However, to achieve this angle, particularly when the seat back is against a wall or bulkhead as in an extended cab truck or certain types of sport-utility vehicles, requires situating the lower portion of the seat back as well as the seat base cushion forward of the wall or bulkhead. This forward placement of the seat base and the lower part of the seat back interferes with the use of the passenger compartment as cargo space, since the anchor point of the typical folding seat must stand away from the rear wall by a sufficient distance to achieve the optimum torso support angle when the seat is in the unfolded position. This spaced placement from the vehicle wall is illustrated to be the same in FIG. 8A, with the known seat in seating positions as in FIG. 8B with the known seat in upward, closed position. This stands in stark contrast to the two positions for the new stadium-style folding seat when in the open seating position of FIG. 1 as compared to the folded up position shown in FIG. 2.